Horizon Centre as well as larger developments around Cyber City have seen very high demand simply because of the overall ecosystem that the locations offer, Amit Grover, National Director, DLF, tells ET Now in an interview. Edited excerpts:ET Now | March 08, 2016, 17:30 IST

ET Now: Can you take us through the deal (Horizon) contours and what are the financials involved?

Amit Grover: Well actually the horizon centre leasing and a good takeoff, both add to one horizon centre, which is a joint venture with Hines India as well as the two horizon centres, completely developed by DLF. There has been an interesting takeoff beginning from the last year but towards the end of the year it got excellent market potential with one of the large conglomerate like Samsung committed for a corporate office consolidation of 300,000 square feet, reflecting the strength of the market of Gurgaon in commercial real. Horizon Centre is a 1.2 million square feet development, which is a platinum league certified building. It got its completion certificate towards the last quarter of 2015 and it actually shows the strength of the market that how the building got preleased by about 60% before it got its completion certificate. This is also a trend which is reflecting with most of the corporates while they are acknowledging the buildings which have a much more modern design both in terms of layout, the collaborative spaces, the F&B areas and it is kind of a reflection of how the trend of more corporates moving towards Grade A buildings.

ET Now: If you can tell us how do you plan to utilise the proceeds of this deal and will a portion of it be used to pay debt?

Amit Grover: Well this is just one of the assets of the larger portfolio of 27 million square feet, which DLF has it on their books. It will definitely have some of the proceeds going and adding to our rental revenue but more importantly our larger structuring is all at the entity level, the deal specific does contribute to the larger picture of the rental business and the overall DLF group as a whole.

ET Now: In terms of ground situation are you witnessing a good demand pick up?

Amit Grover: We have seen corporates getting more sensitive towards sustainable buildings looking after safety requirements, the employee-engagement areas, how the overall master planning of the project is and how close the proximity to the residential areas and more importantly, how the buildings and office buildings are accessible to mass transport system. Horizon Centre as well as larger developments around Cyber City have witnessed very high demand simply because of the overall ecosystem which the locations offer, the projects offer and also the metro connectivity and the larger 16-lane expressway project, which is going to complete by about third quarter 2016.

ET Now: If you can tell us about the status of the proposed Real Estate Investment Trust and can you tell us about who you are working with and when will it actually come in fruition?

Amit Grover: A lot is happening at the corporate thought process so certainly the dividend relaxation during the Budget is a welcome move. We are analysing all options so at this stage it is too premature to comment.

Currently, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is levied at 12 per cent on payments made for under-construction property or ready-to-move-in flats where completion certificate has not been issued at the time of sale.